Light in the Dark
by avalon.clarity
Summary: Ariadne Wayne, bright and loyal, was imprisoned for attacking a guard who assaulted her best friend: Clarke Griffin. But the ground is even more dangerous than the Ark above and the people there test her limits to the max. Eventual Bellamy/OC
1. Chapter 1

**Hey guys! So if you love the 100 as much as me, you've come to the right place! This is a story with an OC x Bellamy Blake, but I don't really consider it a romance. It's more of a rollercoaster. I love this story and I hope you do to.**

**Please enjoy and review!**

When I was a kid, I dreamed of Earth every night. It helped me escape the cries of the other orphans as they had nightmares. But me? I always dreamed of seeing the trees, diving into a pool of crystal clear water, feeling the wind on my skin. I thought of running across a massive plain, climbing rough rocks, sleeping under the stars.

But the reality is, I will never see Earth. I am trapped in a ten by ten foot cell where I don't belong, all because I defended a friend. A sister, more like it. The only people I've ever had were her and her parents, but that's all I needed. I would've died if it weren't for them. So I fought for her and now I'm imprisoned. I haven't seen her in a year and a half. I haven't seen anyone except the guards.

I live in space, where every crime is punishable by death. Unless you're under the age of 18, of course, in which case you're imprisoned in the Skybox, a place I never thought I'd end up. I was bright, not only that, I was smart. I couldn't heal people like the medics or build things like the engineers, but give me a problem, a puzzle, a disagreement, a supply-shortage, and I could find a way to make sure everything worked out fine. I'm no warrior, but I've had to struggle and fight my entire life, and I don't bow down to anyone. But I also believe in equality, and that's what I do. I equalize.

The one last thing I'm good at is figuring people out. I can tell if someone's lying. I can tell what people are really thinking. I could've been a pretty good interrogator of criminals, but then I became one.

It's just another ordinary day on the Ark. I don't do much except walk in circles, do crunches, push-ups. Wouldn't want to look bad for my execution. But then the door opens.

"Prisoner two fourteen, face the wall." The guard barks, and I do as he says. I notice the other one take out a metal wristband.

"I'm not eighteen." I immediately say. Years of living as an orphan have also made me keyed to survival. "I'm only seventeen and nine months."

"Hold out your right arm." The guard commands.

"What's going on?" I shrink back.

"Prisoner two fourteen, _hold out your arm_." The guard whips out his electrical weapon.

Unwillingly, I comply. The wristband snaps on and I wince at the sudden tightness.

"Come with us." The guard says, and I walk out of my cell.

The Skybox is emptying. Everyone is being moved out of their cells and towards the other end.

I hear a commotion across from me, and I look across. A blond girl has run out of her cell in a panic, and I recognize her in a heartbeat.

"_Clarke_!" I cry, surging towards the railing. The guards grab my shoulders and pull me along with the flow. My light brown hair flies in my face, all messy tangles and knots.

"CLARKE!" I scream, but she doesn't hear me.

"Quiet!" The guard says menacingly, but my heart is racing. My friend, my only family, she's right there.

The guards shuffle me all the way down and force me through a low doorway into line.

"Do you know what's going on?" The boy behind me asks. He looks nervous, but I haven't talked to another person besides the guards in a year and a half and I'm relishing it.

"No idea." I answer.

"I'm Jasper." He holds out a hand and the guard gives him a warning look.

"Or not." He mutters, and I smile. It feels like a mask is being peeled from my face.

"I'm Ariadne." I say. "Just call me Ari."

"Sure." Jasper says, and I'm shuffled into a tiny space.

"Sit down!" The guard barks, and I plop down. Jasper is pushed next to me.

"It's a dropship." He says in amazement.

"Are you telling me they're sending us to the ground?" I ask, and he shrugs.

"Ari!" A voice calls, and I look down the numerous seats to see a familiar face. He was always with Clarke and I, it's hard to forget.

"Wells? What the hell are you doing here?"

"I got myself arrested. For Clarke and you."

"What makes you think we want you here? You betrayed both of us."

Wells' face saddens, but I won't take back what I said.

"No love lost there." Jasper says, and I shake my head.

"Whatever."

"Hey, Monty!" Jasper says to another boy, who is set down next to him, on his other side.

"Long time, no see!" The boy responds.

"This is Ari." Jasper says.

"Hey." I say, but I'm distracted. Why are they sending us to the ground? The noise is so loud in here I can barely stand it after the constant silence of my cell.

The ship slowly fills up, and I see two guards carrying in an unconscious girl. I see her and tense up.

"What did you do to her?" I ask a guard.

"She resisted. She'll wake up soon." One tells me. They set her down next to Wells, and I look at her anxiously. She _looks _alright.

"That a friend of yours?" Jasper asks.

"She's all I've got." I say. "I just hope she's okay."

We're released from the Ark; I know because I feel the slight push. We soar through space for almost thirty seconds before suddenly there's a shake.

Some people scream in fear, but most of us just hang on until the turbulence stops.

"The atmosphere?" I ask, and Jasper nods.

The video screens around us flicker to life, showing us all a familiar face: Chancellor Jaha. "Prisoners of The Ark, hear me now. You've been given a second chance, and as your Chancellor, it is my hope that you see this as not just a chance for you, but a chance for all of us, indeed for mankind itself. We have no idea what is waiting for you down there. If the odds of survival were better, we would've sent others. Frankly, we're sending you because your crimes have made you expendable."

"Your dad is a dick, Wells!" A boy shouts, and there's scattered laughter.

"Those crimes will be forgiven, your records wiped clean. The drop site has been chosen carefully. Before the last war, Mount Weather was a military base built within a mountain. It was to be stocked with enough non-perishables to sustain 300 people for up to two years."

"Spacewalk bandit strikes again. Go, Finn!" Someone shouts and I watch as a boy floats into the air.

"Check it out. Your dad floated me, after all." Finn says to Wells down the aisle. I look down, and I see a girl with blond hair, awake.

"Clarke." I call out, but she's too focused on Finn.

"You should strap in before the parachutes deploy." Wells tells Finn.

"Hey, you two, stay put if you want to live." Clarke says to two others who are about to cut their seatbelts.

"Listen to her, the parachutes will deploy any moment." I say to them, but on of the boys just laughs.

"Mount Weather is life. You must locate those supplies immediately." Jaha says. "Your one responsibility is stay alive."

"Sit down!" I shout to the boy across from me who's just released himself from the seat.

Then, something happens. Something rocks the ship and gravity kicks in.

We're careening across the sky. People are screaming, crying out, but all I can do is grip on tight and hope I survive. We're freefalling, I can sense that now, and something's very, very wrong.

Sparks fly down, and I flinch as one burns my hand.

"Are you okay?" Jasper yells to me.

"Fine!" I shout back as the ship keeps shaking. It gives one massive shudder then stops.

"Listen. No machine hum." Monty says, and I realize he's right. Everything's completely silent, something none of us have ever heard.

"That's a first." Jasper mutters.

The straps unlock, and I jump down, trying to fight my way through the press to reach Clarke, but she disappears.

"The outer door is on the lower level. Let's go!" A boy shouts, and everyone follows him. Jasper, Monty, and I are swept along with the tide.

"Hey, just back it up, guys." A boy, more like a man really, since he looks older than all of us, says.

"You do know we could be walking into a radioactive wasteland, right?" I say, pushing myself to the front of the crowd. I look him dead in the eyes, knowing that disconcerts most people. My eyes are such a shattered icy blue that most people can't bear looking into them for too long, but he just stares back.

"If the air is toxic, we're all dead, anyway." He replies calmly.

"Bellamy?" A girl asks quietly, and everyone separates to let her through.

"My God, look how big you are." Bellamy says, and he hugs the girl tightly.

"What the hell are you wearing, a guard's uniform?" The girl asks him, and his eyes tighten so imperceptibly I doubt anyone noticed.

"I borrowed it to get on the drop ship. Someone has got to keep an eye on you." Bellamy says with a laugh.

"You're not a prisoner." I say, noticing his lack of a wristband.

"Do you mind? I haven't seen my brother in a year." The girl says coldly to me, and I scowl.

"No one has a brother." A boy shouts.

"That's Octavia Blake, the girl they found hidden in the floor." A girl yells, and Octavia lunges for her.

"Octavia, Octavia, no. Let's give them something else to remember you by." Bellamy tells the girl.

"Yeah? Like what?" Octavia asks.

"Like being the first person on the ground in a hundred years." Bellamy says, and without warning, he pulls the lever.

The door falls open, and blinding light hits my face. My eyes squint as the light stabs them, but as my vision clears, I can see the sun. It shines through the leaves, such a bright green it hurts my eyes, and illuminates the brown earth, the rough trunks, everything. It's all so beautiful, so pristine, and I feel like I'm being reborn. I can breathe, finally, for the first time in my life.

Octavia exhales deeply and steps closer to the ground. With one hop, her boots sink into the damp earth.

"We're back, bitches!" She screams at the top of her lungs, and the crowd surges forward, pushing me out into the world. Jasper stumbles and Monty and I catch him, and then my boots are sinking into the soft earth. I can smell so much, so many different things, it seems impossible, and I can hear cheering, happiness.

I have to find Clarke.

I turn around and see her, still by the ship, holding a scroll in her hand.

"Clarke!" I scream, and she turns, and then I'm running into her arms and we're hugging so tightly I'm pretty sure I can't breathe.

"You're here!" She gasps. "You're here!"

"I missed you so much." I say. "Every day of the last year and a half, I wished you were with me."

Clarke lets me go and grins. "Come on." She says and we walk into the forest together, reaching the edge of a hill within steps.

She looks at the scroll in her hands and I realize it's a map. To Mount Weather, our place of survival.

Her face grows grim quickly.

"Clarke, what is it?" I ask her.

"Why so serious, Princess? It's not like we died in a fiery explosion." Finn says from behind us. I give him a look of wariness.

"Try telling that to the two guys who followed you out of their seats." Clarke retorts to him.

"You don't like being called princess, do you, Princess?" Finn says.

"Do you see that peak over there?" Clarke asks him, and I look out over the forest to the rising mountain.

"Yeah." Finn answers.

"Mount Weather." Clarke says. "There's a radiation-soaked forest between us and our next meal."

I look at the peak again. "They left us on the wrong mountain."

We make our way back to the dropship only to find everyone scattered, forming smaller groups.

"We got problems. The communications system is dead. I went to the roof. A dozen panels are missing. Heat fried the wires." Wells says to Clarke and I as I watch her draw lines on a map.

"Well, all that matters right now is getting to Mount Weather. See? Look. This is us. This is where we need to get to if we want to survive." Clarke shows us the line.

"Where'd you learn to do that?" Wells asks, and Clarke purses her lips. "Your father." He adds slowly.

"Clarke, that's not the only thing that matters right now –" I begin to say, but Jasper comes up, cutting me off.

"Ah, cool, a map. They got a bar in this town? I'll buy you a beer." He says.

"You mind?" Wells pushes him back, and I look at Wells angrily.

"Wells, leave him –"

"Hey, hey, hey, hands off of him. He's with us." A boy with a pack of others behind him says.

"Relax. We're just trying to figure out where we are." Wells says to him.

"We're on the ground. That not good enough for you?" Bellamy calls over.

"We need to find Mount Weather. You heard my father's message. That has to be our first priority." Wells says to us.

"Screw your father. What, you think you're in charge here, you and your little Princess?" Octavia shoots the jab at Clarke.

"Do you think we care who's in charge? We need to get to Mount Weather not because the Chancellor said so, but because the longer we wait, the hungrier we'll get and the harder this'll be. How long do you think we'll last without those supplies? We're looking at a twenty-mile trek, okay? So if we want to get there before dark, we need to leave now." Clarke says to all of them.

"I got a better idea. You two go, find it for us. Let the privileged do the hard work for a change." Bellamy says.

"This isn't about the privileged versus the workers." I say loudly. "I'm a worker, and I think Clarke's right."

"Screw you!" Someone yells, and I feel my face harden.

"She's right, we all have to go!" Wells says.

Wells stumbles forward from a rough shove. "Look at this, everybody…The Chancellor of Earth." The boy says, sauntering after him.

"Think that's funny?" Wells asks.

The boy pushes him again, sending him flying to the ground.

"Stop it!" I tell him.

"Wells." Clarke says, hurrying to him, but the boy's cronies hold her back.

"What you gonna do now, Wells?" The boy asks. Wells is limping badly on one foot, and the boy starts towards him a couple times.

"Come on. Come on." The boy says.

"Whoo! Whoo!" A boy calls out and people cheer.

Suddenly, Finn drops down between them from the dropship, falling a few feet. "Kid's got one leg. How about you wait until it's a fair fight?" He tells the boy, whose confident smile falters. He backs off quickly.

"Hey, spacewalker," Octavia calls out, "rescue me next."

Everyone laughs and Finn grins.

Clarke rolls her eyes and begins examining Wells' foot. I watch helplessly. I always was a horrible healer.

"So, Mount Weather. When do we leave?" Finn asks us loudly.

"Now, if you're ready." I say. "We'll be back by tomorrow night."

"How are the three of you gonna carry enough food for a hundred?" Wells asks, and I glance around.

"Jasper, Monty, you're coming with us." I tell him, pulling them into our little circle.

"Five of us. Can we go now?" Finn says.

"Sounds like a party. Make it six." Octavia walks up.

"Hey, what the hell are you doing?" Bellamy asks her.

"Going for a walk."

"Hey, were you trying to take this off?" Clarke asks suddenly, grabbing Finn's wristband, which has a long scratch down one side.

"Yeah. So?"

"So, this wristband transmits your vital signs to The Ark. Take it off, and they'll think you're dead." Clarke says. I know why it's so crucial they keep the wristbands on, even though none of them do.

"Should I care?" Finn asks.

"Well, I don't know. Do you want the people you love to think you're dead? Do you want them to follow you down here in two months? Because they won't if they think we're dying." Clarke says, but I hear the truth in her voice.

"Okay." Finn relents.

"Now let's go." Clarke says.

Octavia looks at Bellamy, who nods. "Go on." He says, and she kisses his cheek.

"I'll make sure she gets back." I say to him and I begin to follow before turning back.

"Bellamy, don't let them take off the wristbands." I say.

"Why?" Bellamy asks with a smirk and every muscle tenses with irritation.

"Just, don't. I'm not asking you trust me, I'm just asking you to believe that it's important." I say before turning to run and catch up.

I reach Clarke just as Octavia says, "Before you get any ideas, Finn is mine."

"Before you get any ideas, I don't care." Clarke says to her.

I laugh. "If you stepped onto Earth expecting to find love, I think you're a little lost."


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey guys! Chapter Two is up! Thanks for the positive response! I hope you continue to like Ari. Thanks for the follows and reviews.**

We're walking along through a field of purple flowers attached to vines, Clarke pulling ahead, and I'm just admiring the scenery, but on the lookout, keeping an eye out for danger. Finn plucks a flower from the stem. He puts it in Octavia's hair, and she smiles. I just roll my eyes.

"Now, that, my friend, is game." Jasper says quietly from behind me.

"That, my friend, is poison sumac." Monty says.

"What?" Octavia flails to get the flower from her hair. "It is?"

"The flowers aren't poisonous. They're medicinal, calming, actually." Monty says as he bites into one.

"His family grows all the pharmaceuticals on The Ark." Jasper tells us.

"Hey, guys, would you try to keep up?" Clarke calls back to the group.

"Come on, Clarke. How do you block all this out?" Finn asks.

"Well, it's simple. I wonder, 'why haven't we seen any animals?' Maybe it's because there are none. Maybe we've already been exposed to enough radiation to kill us. Sure is pretty, though." Clarke says. "Come on."

"Someone should slip her some poison sumac." Jasper says and Monty snorts.

"Say what you want about Clarke, she's just trying to keep us all alive." I say, looking around at the woods around us. I don't miss the look they exchange behind me.

"I got to know what you two did to get busted." Finn asks Monty and Jasper.

"Sumac is not the only herb in the garden, if you know what I mean." Jasper says.

"Someone forget to replace what we took." Monty gave a look at Jasper.

"Someone has apologized, like, a thousand times. How about you, Octavia? What'd they get you for?" Jasper asks.

"Being born." Octavia says crossly and she bounds ahead.

"That is so not game." Monty says to Jasper and I grin.

Clarke shushes them, crouching low to the ground. We gather around her, lying almost flat, as she points to a deer, eating from the grass blanketing the ground in front of us.

"No animals, huh?" Finn whispers, and he creeps forward. His foot lands on a twig, and the deer's head snaps toward us.

We all let out cries of disgust at the sight of the strange tissue splitting its head in two. The deer bounds away into the woods, leaving us behind, frightened about what else the supposedly pristine landscape hides.

"Come on. We can't stop." I say after a few minutes. They follow me into the woods.

We keep walking, heading downhill.

"Hey, you know what I'd like to know? Why send us down today after ninety-seven years? What changed?" Finn asks.

"Who cares? I'm just glad they did. I woke up rotting in a cell, and now I'm spinning in a forest." Octavia says, swinging around a tree trunk.

"Maybe they found something on a satellite, you know, like an old weather satellite or it wasn't a satellite." Finn says, half to himself.

"The Ark is dying. At the current population level, there's roughly three months left of life support, maybe four now that we're gone." Clarke says abruptly.

"So that was the secret they locked you two up to keep, why they kept you in solitary, floated your old man?" Finn asks me and her.

"My father was the engineer who discovered the flaw. He thought the people had a right to know. The Council disagreed. My mother disagreed. They were afraid it would cause a panic. We were gonna go public, anyway, when Wells…" Clarke trails off.

"What, turned in your dad?" Finn asks.

"The guard showed up to arrest him before we could do anything." I tell him. "When they floated him, Clarke struggled against one of the guards. I snapped. I punched one straight in the face. Actually got in a few good hits before the others grabbed me. They arrested me."

"That's why today. That's why it was worth the risk. Even if we all die, at least they bought themselves more time." Clarke says.

"They're gonna kill more people, aren't they?" Monty asks.

"Good. After what they did to me, I say, float them all." Octavia says.

"Octavia, you're talking about the murder of men, women, and children. You're talking about genocide." I say, but she keeps going.

"We have to warn them." Finn says.

Clarke pauses. "That's what my father said." She says slowly.

"Oh, damn, I love Earth." Jasper breathes out, and I look ahead.

Octavia is stripping on the rocks ahead, smiling back at us like she does this everyday.

"Oh! Holy…" Monty says, and Finn laughs.

"Octavia, what the hell are you doing?" Clarke asks and Octavia turns, leaping feet first from the rock. I hear a splash.

"Octavia!" I cry out, running to the edge. Octavia's head peeks out of the water.

"We can't swim." Jasper says to her.

"I know, but we can stand." Octavia laughs as she rises out of the river.

"Wait. There's not supposed to be a river here." Clarke says distractedly.

"Well, there is. So take off your damn clothes." Finn says. Jasper is already frantically trying to remove his jacket.

"Oh…" He says, suddenly sounding worried. "Octavia, get out of the water."

I look out over the water to see a wave spreading over the river. As the silt settles, a massive snake-like thing emerges.

"Get out of the water now!" I scream at Octavia, who turns.

In a snap, she's pulled under with a shriek of fear.

"Octavia!" Jasper shouts after her. She emerges again, still screaming, before submerging again.

The water goes still. I can't see her or the snake. We just wait in terrified silence.

Octavia emerges again, screaming at the top of her lungs on the other side of the river. We run for her, slipping on the slick rocks.

"What the hell is that?" Clarke asks.

"We have to help her." Finn says, stripping off his jacket.

"What do you think you can do against that?" I ask him.

"Try not to get eaten." Finn says.

"No. Wait. If we distract it, it might let her go. Help me." Clarke runs to the riverside, pushing on a rock.

"Aah!" Octavia cries out and the boulder falls. The snake spins to the other side.

"It worked! It let her go!" Jasper shouts.

"Can you get to the shore now?" Clarke calls out to a flailing Octavia. Jasper runs to the edge, but I grab him, pushing him back into the shore. I dive straight into the water without thinking.

The wetness immerses me in a way I've never felt. I push through to the surface and grab a floundering Octavia, pushing her towards the rocks I can see through the lapping waves.

"Octavia, get to shore!" I shout, pushing her ahead of me as my feet kick off of the rocky bottom. "Someone pull her on shore."

I see Jasper reach for her arms and I shove her once more into his waiting hands.

"It's coming back. It's headed right for you, Ari!" Monty shouts, and I push off the shallow ground. Clarke's hands grasp mine, pulling me onto the rocks. I watch in horror as the snake snaps where my feet had been moments before.

Clarke grasps me in a tight hug and I smile. "I'm okay."

"Thank you. Thank you." Octavia says as she hugs Jasper.

Clarke rips a strip from Jasper's shirt, binding Octavia's bleeding wound on her upper thigh. "You're gonna be okay." She says.

"Note to self, next time, save the girl." Monty jokes, and I laugh exhaustedly as even Clarke smiles.

After a few more miles, we collapse in a clearing. I curl up on a patch of thick moss with Clarke only a few feet away. I'm exhausted but sleep doesn't come easy, unlike Monty, Jasper, Octavia, and Clarke. They are asleep in minutes.

"I'll watch over them." I hear Finn say behind me, and I turn.

"That's what you're worried about, right? You don't want something sneaking up on us." He says.

I look at Clarke. "I'm worried about back at the dropship. Who knows what's going on? What's Bellamy doing? That other kid? Wells? I half wish I'd stayed to make sure everything was alright."

"You think they're taking off the wristbands?" Finn asks.

I just shake my head, and he looks at his hands. "Get some sleep, Ari. You'll need it tomorrow."

I nod and lie down again. My worries are nowhere near eased, but I can pretend to sleep until sleep takes me.

The next morning, we keep hiking until we reach the same river. Within a few minutes, Finn finds what he thinks is a strong enough vine to hold our weight.

"I'll go first." He says immediately, climbing up to the top. We wait as he adjusts and readjusts his grip on the vine.

"You wanted to go first. Now quit stalling." Clarke calls up to him.

"Mount Weather awaits." Finn smiles nervously.

"Just hang on till the apogee, and you'll be fine." Jasper says.

"The apogee like the Indians, right?" Finn asks.

"Apogee, not apache."

"Come on, Finn!" I shout up to him.

"Aye, aye, captain. See you on the other side." Finn says.

"Wait." Jasper grabs his arm, glancing down at Octavia. I roll my eyes, grinning.

"What?" Finn asks.

"Let me. I can do it." Jasper tells him, and Finn hands him the vine.

"Knew there was a badass in there somewhere."

Jasper laughs nervously and looks across the river before gripping the vine tighter.

"Hey, it's okay to be afraid, Jasper. The trick is not fighting it." Finn tells him.

Jasper takes a breath and smiles. "See you on the other side." In a flash, he swings across, shouting at the top of his lungs in excitement. As he nears the other side, I watch excitedly as he lets go off the vine, falling to the other shore. For a second, I think he's unconscious, then he stumbles to his feet, shouting, "Yeah! We are apogee! Yeah!"

"Yeah!" Clarke cheers, and I let out a whoop of joy.

"You did it, Jasper!" Clarke shouts at him.

"Whoo! Yeah!" Jasper laughs, still stumbling a little.

"Let's go, Princess. You're up." Finn says and Clarke steps up.

"Come on, Clarke! You got this! Whoo! Apogee!" Jasper shouts. As Clarke prepares to swing across, I watch as Jasper rummages in the leaves for a second.

"We did it! Mount Weather! Whoo! Whoo!" He suddenly shouts, holding up a corroded sign.

"Yes!" Octavia cheers.

"Yeah, Jasper!" Finn shouts. Jasper grins across at us, waving the sign over his head. The next second, he's flying backwards into a tree, the sign clattering down onto the rocks. I stare in open-mouthed shock at the spear sticking out of his chest.

"Jasper." Clarke breathes out, and I grab her around the shoulders.

"Come on. Come on. Come on." Finn says, hurrying us behind the rocks.

"Jasper! Jasper!" Clarke shouts, and I shove her down.

"No. Come on. Get down. Get down. Come on." Finn tells Monty and Octavia, who duck.

I look out over the rocks hesitantly at Jasper, slumped against the tree trunk. I don't know if he's alive or not. My breath is coming so fast I'm barely inhaling enough oxygen.

"We're not alone." Clarke breathes out and I glance around at the trees. They're no longer beautiful.


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey guys! Sorry for the long delay but my internet wasn't working for days!** **Anyway, thanks so much for reading this!**

**Please enjoy and review!**

"Clarke! Move!" I push her onwards. We're running full sprint through the trees back the way we came, but Clarke keeps glancing back.

Monty, in the lead, falls to the ground and lets out a grunt.

"Monty. Come on! We got to go!" Finn says.

"Monty, get up!" Octavia says, obviously panicking.

That's when I notice the skeleton near Monty's head, picked clean.

"Who are they?" Finn pants.

Clarke bends down and picks up the skull. "What are they?" She asks as she shows us the deformed skeleton.

"We are so screwed." Octavia gasps.

Just then, a scream echoes through the trees. I recognize the voice.

"Jasper. He's alive." Clarke says, and I turn and run back to the river, Clarke close behind.

"Ari, Clarke, wait. Wait!" Finn shouts after us. As we near the edge of the trees, he grabs onto my arm. "Wait. Stay out of the trees."

"He was right there." Clarke points at the fallen sign.

"No. Where is he?" Monty asks. I can see the blood stain on the tree where Jasper fell, but he's not there anymore.

'They took him." Clarke breathes out.

"We can't stay here. That spear came from the trees, okay?" I say. "They could be above us, below us, anywhere. We've got to warn the others and put together a team to get Jasper back."

"She's right." Finn agrees. "We've got to head back."

"Let me go ahead." I say. "I'm probably the fastest here. It's smart for someone to explain the situation before hand instead of all six of us charging in. We'll cause less panic, anyway. It's not too far and I know the way."

"Ari, you'll be in danger." Clarke protests.

"We're all in danger." I retort, and Finn nods.

"Go on. We'll be right behind you."

I nod in thanks and turn around, running through the woods. My fear of what's around me keeps me sprinting for miles.

I finally stumble down the hill, led by the sound of shouting to the crash site. What I see is exactly what I was afraid of: pure chaos.

Wells and the other kid from earlier are fighting, wrestling on the ground. As I sprint down the hill, nearly falling over my own feet in my haste, the other kid whirls Wells to the ground, pinning him down.

"Stop! Hey, stop!" I shout, shoving my way around a group of kids and into the ring. Bellamy watches the fight from a few feet away.

Wells gains the upper hand, flipping the other kid over and punching him in the face.

"Wells!" I shout, grabbing his shoulder and tugging him back. It takes all my strength to separate them, but a year and a half of doing nothing but strengthening myself has paid off.

"How could you just stand by and do nothing while this happened?" I ask Bellamy angrily as Wells backs off of the other kid.

"Where's Octavia? The food?" He asks worriedly.

"We didn't make it to Mount Weather. The others are close behind me." I say, moving closer to him. "What's going on here?"

"Murphy was holding her above the fire to make it seem like we were actually dying of radiation." Wells says, gesturing to a frightened girl on the ground.

"What do you mean, actually dying?" I say as I look at the fire. I see the discarded wristbands and I turn to Bellamy.

"I told you! I told you to not take them off! Do you have any idea what you've done?"

I hear a crunch of leaves from behind me and tense up.

"Ari, duck!" Wells shouts, and I do as he says, ducking my head and spinning around. The boy holds a makeshift knife in one hand, swinging at my head.

Instinct takes over. I know what to say, what to do. He's angry, which makes him reckless. I'm not angry. I'm not even afraid, not after what I've seen in the past twenty-four hours.

"You don't have to do this." I say to him.

"_He floated my father!_" Murphy yells viciously, spitting the words out between clenched teeth.

"It doesn't matter." I say calmly. I can already tell there's no reasoning with him, but if I can only get close enough to get the knife. "We've all lost people, people we loved. I never met my parents because of the Ark's laws. The only father I've ever known was floated too. But do you really want our first mark on Earth to be killing?"

Murphy hesitates and I take my opportunity to grab his wrist, twisting it backwards. He drops the knife and I scoop it up from the ground, pointing it straight at his throat. He raises his hands at the sharp point.

"You should probably know that I'm the girl who got arrested for attacking a guard. I'm not here to hurt you, but I won't let you commit murder." I say and I toss the knife to Bellamy's feet.

"There's a reason we didn't make it to Mount Weather. We were attacked. We aren't alone down here." I say loudly, so everyone gathered can here me.

"What are you talking about?" Bellamy asks me.

"Ari!"

Clarke stumbles down the hill, the others close behind her.

"Octavia. Are you all right?" Bellamy rushes over to the limping girl.

"Yeah."

"What the hell happened out there?" Bellamy asks us.

"We were attacked." Clarke says.

"She said that." Bellamy looks at me. "By what?"

"Not what. Who. It turns out, when the last man from the ground died on the Ark, he wasn't the last Grounder." Finn says.

"It's true. Everything we thought we knew about the ground is wrong. There are people here, survivors. The good news is, that means we can survive. Radiation won't kill us." Clarke says.

"Yeah, the bad news is the Grounders will." Finn adds.

"Jasper got hit with a spear. He's still alive, but they captured him." I say. "Clarke, that's not all. They've been taking off wristbands."

Clarke's face gets angry fast. "How many?" She asks Bellamy.

"Twenty-four and counting." Murphy says smugly, and I feel the strong urge to punch him in the nose.

"You idiots. Life support on the Ark is failing. That's why they brought us down here." Clarke says furiously. "They need to know the ground is survivable again, and we need their help against whoever is out there. If you take off your wristbands, you're not just killing them. You're killing us!"

There's a moment of shocked silence, then Bellamy begins to speak. Something in his voice sounds different, like he's trying to throw together a valid excuse. "We're stronger than you think. Don't listen to her. She's one of the privileged. If they come down, she'll have it good. How many of you can say the same? We can take care of ourselves. That wristband on your arm? It makes you a prisoner. We are not prisoners anymore! They say they'll forgive your crimes. I say you're not criminals! You're fighters, survivors! The Grounders should worry about us!"

The clearing erupts in cheers and I shake my head.

"Clarke, let's get out of here. We won't get anywhere with that moron talking." I throw a glance at Bellamy.

"What do we do now?" Monty asks us as we stride away.

"Now we go after Jasper." Clarke says.

Clarke, Monty, and Wells go inside the dropship to gather supplies while I wait outside. I see Bellamy carry Octavia to a fallen branch and begin cleaning her leg wound. Finally, Finn walks up the ramp.

"You're not coming, are you?" I ask him.

"No one should be going at all." He tells me. "It's a suicide mission. You know that."

"Yeah, I do." I say. "But Jasper was the first person to talk to me after a year and a half of solitary. I'm going to go after him."

"Are you going to try to convince me to go?"

"No." I say, and he looks at me, surprised. "I've already worked out who we need and we don't need you. Someone sensible needs to stay here."

I spread out the map, using a piece of charcoal to sketch out a rough map of the crash site.

"Build a fence. Use the trees knocked down by the blast interwoven with metal plates from the dropship. Get anyone you can to help you. On the top of the wall, shave down branches into spikes. That'll get rid of any climbers."

"You really do always have a plan." Finn says.

"Clarke tell you that?" I ask with a smile. "Look, go in there and tell them to hurry up. The longer we wait the more likely Jasper is to die."

Finn nods and heads inside. A moment later, he comes out, followed by Clarke, Monty, and Wells.

"Do you know who we need?" She asks.

"You, me, Bellamy, Murphy. Wells I suppose." I say.

"Murphy?" Wells asks distastefully.

"I prefer to keep my enemies close. Anyway, Bellamy will want to bring someone from his team along." I say.

"Let's go get him then." Clarke says, and we walk over to where Bellamy still bandages Octavia's leg.

"You could have been killed." He says to her as we walk up.

"She would have been if Ari didn't jump in to pull her out." Clarke says.

"You guys leaving? I'm coming, too." Octavia tries to stand, wincing.

"No, no. No way. Not again." Bellamy immediately protests.

"He's right. Your leg's just gonna slow us down. I'm here for you." Clarke says to Bellamy. "I hear you have a gun."

Bellamy pulls up the edge of his shirt and I take in the sight of the metal trigger.

"Good. Follow me." Clarke says.

"And why would I do that?" Bellamy asks.

"Because you want them to follow you, and right now, they're thinking only one of us is scared."

Bellamy hesitates before nodding. "Murphy. Come with me. Adam? My sister doesn't leave this camp. Is that clear?"

Another boy nods, and Octavia rolls her eyes.

"I don't need a babysitter." She says.

"Anybody touches her, they answer to me."

"Can we go?" I ask impatiently, and Clarke and Wells start walking. I follow them, Bellamy and Murphy behind me. I don't like trusting them to have my back, but at least I'm a buffer between them and Clarke.

We've been walking for a while now and still no sign of Jasper. I know the smart thing to do would be to split up, but I don't trust Murphy or Bellamy.

"Hey, hold up." Bellamy calls out to us from a few yards away. "What's the rush? You don't survive a spear through the heart." He's brandishing the gun, instantly making me nervous.

"Bellamy, just put the gun away." I tell him.

"Well, why don't you do something about it, huh?" Murphy says to me, and I stare at him icily.

"Jasper screamed when they moved him. If the spear struck his heart, he'd have died instantly. It doesn't mean we have time to waste." Clarke says to Bellamy.

Bellamy grabs her wrist tightly. "As soon as you take this wristband off, we can go."

"The only way the Ark is gonna think I'm dead is if I'm dead. Got it?" Clarke retorts.

"Brave princess." Bellamy smirks.

"Hey, why don't you find your own nickname?" A voice says, and Finn appears.

"You call this a rescue party? Got to split up, cover more ground. Clarke, Wells, come with me." He says immediately and they split off. I eye Murphy and Bellamy distastefully before walking on.

We keep walking for a long time. I keep my eyes on Clarke for as long as I can.

"Guess we have more in common than meets the eye, huh?" Bellamy asks me.

"What?" I ask him, more surprised than anything.

"Both of us are down here because we're protecting people we love." Bellamy says, and I look at Clarke again.

"You're an orphan, aren't you?" He asks.

"If you're trying to get me to like you or find out everything about my past so that you can pretend like we have so much in common, it's not going to work. I may be best friends with one of the privileged, but I've fought to survive for seventeen years." I say. "Don't try to manipulate me. You have no idea of what I'm capable of."

I forge ahead, leaving him in silence behind me.

"Oh, come on, give me something! If we're going to be stuck together down here for the rest of our lives, you can't hate me forever!" Bellamy says after me.

I pause and I feel him smile because he knows he's got me.

"Fine. I never met my parents. My mom died giving birth to me and my dad was floated while my mom was pregnant because he tried to steal her extra food. I was raised with the other orphans. I met Clarke when I was six." I say. "Now you tell me something. Why are you so intent on removing the wristbands?"

"Why bring down the people who've ruined our lives, made us work for them –"

"The real reason, Bellamy, not the spiel you gave your followers." I say, and his face goes dark.

"Why would I lie?" He asks.

"I can't possibly imagine." I retort sarcastically, and we keep walking in silence for hours.

Finally, I hear a whistle from Finn signaling for us to come in. We quickly find him and Clarke on the side of a riverbed.

"We found blood, and these." Clarke tosses me Jasper's goggles, and I look at them before strapping them onto my waist.

Finn begins moving along the river, staring at the ground.

"Hey, how do we know this is the right way?" Murphy asks.

"We don't. Spacewalker thinks he's a tracker." Bellamy asks.

"You want to keep it down or should I paint a target on your backs?" Finn asks.

I hear a distant moan and I look towards the trees.

"What the hell was that?" Finn asks.

"Now would be a good time to take out that gun." Clarke says to Bellamy.

We hurry silently through the trees until we reach a dry clearing, a pyre in the middle where Jasper, stripped of his shirt, is tied.

"Jasper. Oh, my God." Clarke breathes out.

"Clarke, be careful." Finn says, pulling her down.

"Jasper?" Clarke pulls away from Finn and me and walks towards him. We follow her. "What the hell is this?"

She plummets before anyone can react.

"CLARKE!" I scream, diving for her. Bellamy is hanging onto her hand, holding her suspended over a pit of wooden spikes. I don't miss the dark look in his eyes.

"Pull her up, pull her up now, pull!" I scream, grabbing her other hand and pulling her over the edge. Bellamy seems to snap out of it, helping me heave her up.

"Are you okay?" I ask her.

"Yeah." She pants at me, and I grip her in a tight hug before helping her up. "We need to get him down." She looks at moaning Jasper, tied up in the vines. I look at Bellamy, who seems unsettled. I don't trust him even more now.

"I'll climb up there and cut the vines." Finn says.

"No. I'm smaller. I'll do it." I say. "Wells, stay with Clarke and watch him. Finn and Murphy, you can catch Jasper when I cut him loose." I look at Bellamy.

"You. Let's go." Finn says brusquely to Murphy.

"There's a poultice on his wound." Clarke says as I approach the trunk.

"Medicine? Why would they save his life just to string him up as live bait?" Wells asks.

"Maybe what they're trying to catch likes its dinner to be breathing." Murphy suggests.

"Maybe what they're trying to catch is us." Finn adds.

"I don't think so." I say. "That pit was made a long time ago. Look at the spikes. Probably tie things up here all the time to catch animals."

I look at the tree, assessing the best way to climb up. My mind carves a path, setting places for my feet and hands.

I climb up the way I wanted, knowing which branches are too weak and which are strong enough. The knife in my hand is sharp enough to saw through the branches. Within a couple minutes, I'm cutting through the vines. Finn works on another, while Murphy perches and cuts through the last.

"Hurry up, Murphy." Finn mutters in the tree.

"Be careful." Clarke calls up to us. My rope frays and I tear it away.

Suddenly, I hear a distant growling sound.

"What the hell was that?" Bellamy asks.

"Grounders?" Finn asks, and I drop to the ground warily.

The growling continues, and I catch the gleam of yellow eyes from a panther in the bushes. It crouches before bounding towards us with a snarl.

"Bellamy, gun!" Clarke yells frantically. Bellamy reaches for the gun, but he doesn't have it.

I pull it out and shoot at the panther. It hits once, twice, letting out howls of pain, before disappearing.

I circle around Bellamy, pointing the gun. He looks for it frantically as well.

Out of nowhere, the cat springs at us. In one swift movement, I pull the trigger.

The panther falls to the ground, curling up in death throes. Bellamy and I are both panting in adrenaline and fear.

I click the gun and it chambers uselessly. All our bullets are gone.

"You took the gun." Bellamy pants. "You didn't trust me."

"No." I breathe heavily back. "But I also just saved your life."

As we approach the camp late that night, someone shouts, "They're back!"

We head inside, Finn and me carrying Jasper, Bellamy and Murphy carrying the dead animal.

"Is he…?" Monty trails off when he sees his friend.

"He's alive. I need boiled water and strips of cloth for bandage." Clarke says as Finn carries Jasper into the dropship.

"I've got it." I tell Clarke as Bellamy unfurls his prize.

"Who's hungry?" He shouts and the crowd cheers for him.

I ignore him as I gather the things Clarke needs. When I go into the dropship, Jasper is pale and listless. Clarke looks worried.

"How is he?" I ask.

"Barely alive. But whatever they did, it's keeping him stable."

"Here's what you needed." I say, setting down everything.

"Thanks." She looks at me.

"Clarke, we aren't going to make it down here, not if Bellamy keeps going like this." I sigh.

"I don't know what to do." Clarke says. "I have no idea."

"Give me some time to think. He's hiding something. Maybe – maybe I can hold that over him." I say.

"Gone on. I'm fine here." She says, and I nod before heading outside.

The only problem is, I know next to nothing about Bellamy. He almost dropped Clarke, he doesn't want the Ark to come down, but _why_?

I watch as he begins to order people, to give them food but only if they take off their wristbands. It's this that I can't stand. I know the people on the Ark are watching and thinking we're dying. I don't know why he's doing this, but I hate it.

"He's stable for now, but without medicine…" I hear Clarke say, and I open my eyes. She's talking to Finn.

"They're taking off their wristbands for food? No way. I – I won't do it." She adds in shock as another comes off with a snap.

"Don't worry, you won't have to." I say with a scowl on my face, and I stride right up to the fire.

When I reach for food, Murphy moves to stop me.

"Whoa, whoa. Wait, wait, wait. What, you think you play by different rules?" He asks me, and I roll my eyes.

"I'm sorry, I didn't realize it was against _Chancellor_ Bellamy's law to eat food that _I _killed." I say as loudly as I can, and I hear muttering spread throughout the crowd.

Bellamy turns to scowl at me, and I look at him steadily.

"I know you almost let her die, Bellamy." I say. "I took the gun because I wasn't sure you wouldn't just pull it out and shoot us both in the head. You're not my leader."

I take the meat and head back to Clarke and Finn, handing them their dinner silently before heading inside to watch over Jasper.


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey guys! Sorry it's taken so long to post this chapter! I'll try to be better :/. Thanks for hanging in!**

**Anyway, please review and enjoy!**

A few days later, I'm still feeling the same pain I felt the moment Clarke told me the truth. I don't know what to do with it. I don't know anything.

But Wells was killed by Grounders on watch the night after I stopped hating him and I feel so unbelievably guilty.

Clarke and Finn come up the ladder. Clarke still has an angry look on her face.

"I know how to make her feel it, the pain." She says, and I stand.

"Tell me."

"The wristbands." Clarke says. "Monty needs them, right? And she thinks we're dead."

I look at Monty, who's awake at Jasper's side.

"Let's do it."

Monty gets to work on Clarke's wrist. After a few tense minutes, it unsnaps and she winces.

"Yes! I did it." He says happily, picking it up. "It's still operational."

"Just pop mine off then." I say.

"Ari, you sure –" Finn begins, but I cut him off with a look.

Monty grabs a crowbar and presses it in between my skin and the wristband.

"One, two, three!" He says, and he pries it off. It cracks open and I wince as I pull my wrist free.

I look to see Clarke approach a disapproving Finn. "What?" Clarke says. "Monty needed a working wristband."

"And you two needed to punish your mother." Finn says.

"Look, they're running out of air, and we need their help. My mother thinking we're dead is only temporary." Clarke says crossly.

"Not if I can't patch it through the dropship mainframe." Monty says, and I look at him sharply. "I can do it. We'll be talking to The Ark by nightfall." He reassures me, and I follow Clarke out.

The camp is in full swing. Bellamy has everyone building a wall how I planned it, with metal interwoven with trees and spikes on the top.

"Hey! You think the Grounders are just gonna sit around, and wait for us to finish the wall? Maybe we should let the little girl do the lifting for you, huh?" Murphy yells at some poor guy who's fallen after carrying a log.

"I just need some water, okay? Then I'll be fine." The boy answers. Murphy opens his mouth to retort, but Bellamy approaches.

"Murphy, get this guy some water." He says, and Murphy, displeased, leaves.

"Hey, you got this?" Bellamy asks Charlotte, who's tying rope around two tree trunks. She begins to move, but Bellamy holds up a hand. "I'm just kidding."

"Where do you need me?" I ask as I approach.

"Can you lift the other end of this?" Bellamy asks. I move to the front of the log and lift it onto my shoulder.

"Let's go." I say, and we move out of camp.

We've just gotten outside of camp when I hear a shout.

"Jasper." I say, and Bellamy and I drop the log, running towards the sound.

"What is it? What's wrong?" I ask as I find him and Octavia.

"We found these." Octavia says, and I realize we're in the place where Wells was found. In Octavia's shirt is a pair of fingers and a knife.

"That's made from the dropship." I say. "And those are from Wells."

"We should get these inside, show Clarke." Bellamy says, and I nod. But I already know what this means. Someone killed Wells from the inside.

When we show Clarke, she's silent for a few seconds, looking over the knife carefully.

"This knife was made of metal from the dropship." She says finally.

"Ari said the same thing, so what?" Octavia asks.

"Who else knows about this?" Bellamy asks.

"No one. We brought it straight here." Octavia says.

"It wasn't the Grounders who killed Wells. It was one of us." I say.

"So, there's a murderer in the camp?" Jasper asks.

"There's more than one murderer in this camp. This isn't news. We need to keep it quiet." Bellamy says, and Clarke moves towards the door. He blocks her.

"Get out of my way, Bellamy." She says angrily.

"Clarke, be smart about this. Look at what we've achieved… the wall, the patrols. Like it or not, thinking the Grounders killed Wells is good for us." Bellamy says.

"Oh, good for you, you mean. What…keep people afraid and they'll work for you? Is that it?" Clarke asks.

"Clarke, he's right. The wall and the patrols are good for us. We aren't going to find who did this by storming out there." I tell her.

"So what? No justice?" Clarke asks.

"Trust me, when I find out who did this, they'll pay the price." I say.

"I know who did it." Clarke says, and she shows me the inside of the knife. "J.M. John Murphy."

I look at Bellamy, and he shakes his head. "Ari, don't –"

"If he did it, I'll know." I say.

I walk past him, Clarke close behind, to where Murphy is bullying some of the workers.

"You son of a bitch!" Clarke shouts out, shoving Murphy.

"What's your problem?" Murphy asks her.

"Recognize this?" Clarke holds up the knife furiously.

"It's my knife. Where'd you find it?" Murphy asks.

"Where you dropped it after you killed Wells."

"Where I what? The Grounders killed Wells, not me." Murphy says. The look of surprise on his face is almost believable, but I'm so angry I dismiss it.

"I know what you did, and you're gonna pay for it." Clarke says.

"Really? Bellamy, you really believe this crap?" Murphy asks. Bellamy doesn't answer.

"You threatened to kill him. We all heard you. You hated Wells." Clarke challenges.

"Plenty of people hated Wells. His father was the Chancellor that locked us up."

"Yeah, but you're the only one who got in a knife fight with him."

"Yeah, I didn't kill him then, either."

"Tried to kill Jasper, too." Octavia says loudly.

"Come on. This is ridiculous. I don't have to answer to you. I don't have to answer to anyone." Murphy tries to walk away, but I block him.

"Come again?" Bellamy asks him.

"Bellamy, look, I'm telling you, man. I didn't do this." Murphy says.

"They found his fingers on the ground with your knife." Clarke says. "Is this the kind of society that we want? You say there should be no rules. Does that mean that we can kill each other without…without punishment?"

"I already told you. I didn't kill anyone." Murphy says loudly.

"I say we float him." A boy volunteers.

"Yeah." Some people agree.

"Wait, stop, no." I say, looking at the fear on Murphy's face.

"Why not? He deserves to float. It's justice." The boy says.

"Justice on the Ark, maybe, but not here." I say.

"It's justice. Float him!" The boy shouts, and everyone takes up the chant. All of a sudden, Murphy lunges for Clarke. I pull her back, and everyone stampedes, knocking Murphy to the ground.

"No! Get off him! Get off of him! Let him go!" Clarke yells, but everyone has him, is tying him up. I heave Clarke out of the crowd as they shove Murphy out of camp, a mob.

In seconds, they kick him out of camp into the mud. Someone slings a rope over a tree, tying a makeshift noose.

"No, no, stop!" I scream, but they don't listen to me.

"Bellamy, you have to stop it, please!" I say. "We were wrong, it wasn't him, it was someone else."

"Bellamy! You should do it." The same boy yells.

"Bellamy! Bellamy! Bellamy!" The crowd begins chanting.

"You're not a murderer, Bellamy." I say frantically. "You wouldn't kill Adam, you can't do this."

"Bellamy, don't do this. Don't –" Murphy begs through the gag they have on him.

In one violent movement, Bellamy kicks the box out from underneath Murphy, and he falls, the rope snapping. He writhes as the crowd cheers.

"This is on you, princess. You should've kept your mouth shut!" Bellamy yells at a terrified Clarke.

"What the hell are you doing? Cut him down! Charlotte, get out of here now! Cut him down! Get out of my way!" Finn yells, pushing through to the front of the crowd. I grab an axe from Bellamy's belt.

"Get out of my way!" I shout, pushing aside the boy who demanded Murphy's head. I move to swing the axe and cut the rope when I feel a stabbing pain in my back.

I fall to the ground and they're on top of me. The pain is making my vision hazy, but I'm still breathing. Everything seems intact. I just can't think.

"Oh my god, Ari. Ari!" Clarke shouts, bending over me. Finn's face is there too, and Octavia's and Bellamy's high above.

"Stop! Okay?" Charlotte's shrill voice sounds out as Clarke helps me sit up. "Murphy didn't kill Wells! I did!"

The clearing goes silent, and I realize the axe is still in my hand fuzzily.

"Oh my God." Clarke breathes out, and I swing the axe with my one good hand. It imbeds into the trunk, cutting the rope and letting Murphy fall to the ground.

Finn and Bellamy help me into a tent. Clarke half drags Charlotte along. I remember Clarke bandaging the wound, which is, fortunately, deep but not large, and at my shoulder, not puncturing my lungs.

"Bring out the girl, Bellamy!" Murphy shouts from outside.

"Why, Charlotte?" Bellamy asks the girl in undertone.

"I was just trying to slay my demons, like you told me." Charlotte says, and I remember the night in the cave.

"What the hell is she talking about?" Clarke asks.

"She misunderstood me. Charlotte, that is not what I meant." Bellamy says.

"Bring the girl out now!" Murphy shouts again.

"Please don't let them hurt me." Charlotte begs.

"If you guys have any bright ideas, speak up." Bellamy asks Clarke and Finn desperately. They don't say a word. "Now you stay quiet."

"Okay, okay, wait." I say. "Finn's been exploring the woods at night, right?" Finn nods. "Bellamy and I will try to talk Murphy down. If that doesn't work, you guys go out the back, through the wall by the graves. There's a gap there. Just run, head for the caves, anything."

"You want to build a society, princess? Let's build a society. Bring her out." Murphy yells.

"No! Please, Bellamy." Charlotte asks.

"Charlotte, hey, it's gonna be okay. Just stay with them." Bellamy tells her gently. He gestures for me to come with him outside.

"Well, well, well. Look who decided to join us." Murphy says as we walk outside.

"Dial it down and back off." Bellamy tells him.

"Or what? What are you gonna do about me? Hang me?" Murphy asks.

"I was just giving the people what they wanted." Bellamy says.

"Yeah. Yeah, that's a good idea. Why don't we do that right now? So, who here wants to see the real murderer hung up? All in favor?" Murphy raises his hand. So do about four more people.

Murphy lowers his hand. "I see. So, it's okay to string me up for nothing, but when this little bitch confesses, you all let her walk? Cowards! All of you are cowards!" His voice raises to a shout.

"Hey, Murphy! Murphy. It's over." Bellamy says.

Murphy lowers his hand slowly. "Whatever you say, boss." He says, but I don't trust him.

Bellamy turns to go back to the tent, but I look at Murphy once more. I see him raise the log.

"Bellamy, look out!" I shout, but Murphy clogs him over the head. I try to get in his way for as long as possible, but he throws me to the ground. My shoulder cries out in agony.

"Son of a bitch! Hey!" Octavia yells as Murphy's cronies block her from coming after him.

"Come on. Let's get the girl." Murphy says, and he rips apart the tent entrance.

"Charlotte!" He screams. "Charlotte, I know you can hear me! And when I find you, you are gonna pay!"

It takes Bellamy twenty minutes to wake up. The sun has gone down and Murphy and his pack are out, armed with torches and knives.

"Wh – what happened?" Bellamy asks as he jerks awake.

"Finn, Clarke, and Charlotte are gone. We've got to find them." I say. Octavia looks at him.

"You okay?" She asks him as he stands unsteadily.

"Fine. Just stay here. I'll be back." Bellamy says. I lead the way out through the back, following imprints of their footsteps.

"Charlotte! You can't hide forever. Don't worry. We won't hurt you!" I hear Murphy yell as we run through the woods. I hear smaller footsteps sprinting away and I run out to grab Charlotte, muffling her scream.

"Let me go!" She forces out, pulling out of my arms.

"We're trying…hey, hey. We're trying to help you." Bellamy says as he grabs her too.

"I'm not your sister! Just stop helping me! I'm over here!" Charlotte screams out and I see Murphy's torches turn towards us.

"Are you trying to get us all killed?" Bellamy hisses at her.

"Just go, okay? I'm the one they want." Charlotte says.

"Charlotte, we won't leave you." I say. "You don't deserve death."

"Please, Ari." Charlotte says, and she lets out another scream. "Murphy! I'm over here!"

Bellamy scoops her up over his back, and we start running into the woods, away from Murphy's mob.

"Come on out, Charlotte!" He yells behind us. "Come on out!"

"Charlotte!" Murphy screams as we sprint through the forest.

"Put me down!" Charlotte screams as we reach a break in the trees. I skid to a halt at the sight of the cliff.

"Damn." I swear, and I turn to face the torchlight.

"Bellamy!" Murphy yells as he emerges. "You can't fight all of us. Give her up."

"Maybe not, but I guarantee we'll take a few of you with us." Bellamy says, glancing at me, and I nod, keeping Charlotte behind me. Murphy takes a step, and Clarke and Finn come crashing through the bushes.

"Bellamy! Stop!" Clarke shouts, and we pause. "This has gone too far." She says soothingly to Murphy. "Just calm down. We'll talk about this."

She turns back towards me, and Murphy grabs her, whirling her in front of him and holding a knife to her throat. My lungs close off. "I'm sick of listening to you talk." Murphy hisses.

"No!" I shout. "Let her go!" I step towards him, and he holds her tighter.

"I will slit her throat." He threatens, and I feel every ounce of oxygen get squeezed from my lungs.

"No, please. Please don't hurt her." Charlotte begs from behind me.

"Don't hurt her? Okay, I'll make you a deal. You come with me right now, I will let her go." Murphy says.

"Don't do it, Charlotte. Don't do it, Charlotte!" Clarke yells.

Bellamy grabs Charlotte as she fights to get past him. I can't stand this, I can't stand watching this little girl fight to die.

"No! No, I have to!" She screams, and I help Bellamy hold her back.

"Charlotte, wait, please, okay?" I ask her. "It'll be fine."

"Murphy, this is not happening." Finn says, and Murphy presses the knife into Clarke's neck.

"I can't let any of you get hurt anymore." Charlotte says from behind me. "Not because of me. Not after what I did."

Something in her voice clues me in seconds before anything happens. I turn around to look at the girl as she steps backwards.

"NO!" I scream as she plummets backwards off the cliff. My hand stretches uselessly for her as I throw myself to the ground, missing her by an inch. Bellamy grabs my torso to keep me from sliding away.

"No! No, no, no!" I sob as Clarke falls to her knees beside me, hopelessly screaming Charlotte's name. The sky opens up, letting the rain come down on us, soaking every inch of me, but I barely notice.

In a split second, Bellamy whirls around. I can almost feel the rage coming off him in waves.

"Bellamy." Murphy says before Bellamy knocks him to the ground.

"Bellamy! Bellamy, stop!" I say, tears still running down my face. I grab his shoulders and pull him off Murphy, who has blood running down his face, nearly unrecognizable as human.

"Get off me!" Bellamy rages against me, hurting my shoulder, but I hang on.

"He deserves to die!" He shouts at me.

"I know." I say, my voice shaking with anger. "I know. But we can't decide who lives and dies."

"So help me God, if you two say the people have a right to decide…" Bellamy says to Clarke and I.

"No, I was wrong before, okay? You were right. Sometimes it's dangerous to tell people the truth. But if we're gonna survive down here, we can't just live by whatever the hell we want. We need rules." Clarke tells him and he runs his hand through his hair.

"And who makes those rules, huh? You?" Bellamy asks.

"For now, we make the rules. The three of us. Okay?" Clarke says.

"So, what, then? We just take him back and pretend like it never happened? Bellamy asks me angrily.

"No!" Clarke protests. She looks at me, and I look down at Murphy.

"Exile him." I say. "He can never come back."

Bellamy looks at me, and I plead with him silently.

He bends down and grabs Murphy by the jacket. "Get up." He says, and he drags Murphy to the edge of the cliff.

"Bellamy! Stop!" Clarke goes after them, but I hold her back.

"If I ever catch you near camp, we'll be back here. Understand?" Bellamy asks. Murphy nods, and Bellamy drops him on the ground.

"As for the four of you, you can come back and follow me, or go off with him to die. Your choice." Bellamy says to the people still carrying torches. He heads off into the woods, and I follow him, walking next to him.

"Did we do the right thing?" He asks me, and I notice his eyes are wet in a way that has nothing to do with the downpour. Blood trickles from the wound on my shoulder down my back.

"I don't know."

"Ari, I need an answer. I feel like I'm making every choice wrong. I'm the one who led Charlotte to think she needed to kill Wells. So tell me, please, did we do the right thing?"

I look into his distraught eyes and nod. "We did the only thing we could."

Bellamy sighs and keeps walking.

"You aren't the reason Charlotte killed Wells. You aren't the reason she's dead. She was scared and confused. But don't blame yourself." I say. "There's enough blame going around right now."

Bellamy looks at me and nods and we keep going back to camp in silence. The rain drips down around us, making our walk seem more like a funeral march.

Back at camp, Bellamy gathers everyone together to announce what happened. Clarke tells the story.

"We have to know the truth. That's why we've decided to banish him." She finishes.

"Anybody got a problem with that?" Bellamy asks. No one says anything, and slowly, people disband until it's only Clarke, Bellamy, and me. We exchange looks, then Clarke heads off.

"You're sure this is going to work? Us three making the rules?" Bellamy asks.

"I'm not sure of anything anymore." I say, and he turns to go to his tent.

"Bellamy!" I call after him, and he turns. "If it's worth anything, I trust you now."

I think the corner of his mouth turns up. "I trust you too." He replies, and I follow Clarke into the dropship.

"I finished it!" Monty crows, and I gather around the contraption he's made to contact the Ark.

"Will we be able to talk to them?" Clarke asks.

"No. More like Morse code. You want to do the honors?" Monty asks Jasper, handing him a red wire. "That port right there."

Jasper leans in excitedly and clips the wire to the port Monty pointed to. For a second, everything seems fine, then sparks fly and everything goes out.

"What happened?" Jasper asks.

"It didn't work." Monty says, rubbing his forehead. "I think we fried all the wristbands."

Finn, who's been watching from a few feet away, storms outside. Clarke follows.

"It's okay, Monty. We'll find another way." I say, putting a hand on his shoulder, and I walk away to get some sleep.

The Earth is managing to pummel us into submission pretty damn well.


	5. Chapter 5

**Hey guys! Sorry for the long wait, I've just been super busy. The S2 finale was pretty good, right?**

**Anyway, please enjoy and review!**

That same night, I can't sleep, like many of the others down here. I go walking around, looking up at the stars blanketing the sky.

I see one flying down, and some girl gasps next to me, "A shooting star!"

Octavia approaches me as the comet flies closer.

"That's no shooting star." I say, realizing what it is, and Octavia squints.

"A pod?" She asks.

"Bellamy!" I shout at his tent. A couple minutes later, he rushes out half-naked.

"Pod." I point to the burning hunk of metal as it releases its parachute. His eyes darken almost immediately.

"Now we can kick some grounder ass." A boy shouts, and everyone cheers in agreement.

"Please tell me they brought down some shampoo." A girl says, standing close to Bellamy. She has only a blanket wrapped around her frame.

"Come on." Bellamy says to me. "We need a plan."

I nod and Octavia follows us into the command tent.

"If it cleared the ridge, it's probably near the lake." One of Bellamy's men tells him.

"We should get moving. Everyone's ready." Octavia says.

"No one's going anywhere. Not while it's dark. It isn't safe. We'll head out at first light. Pass the word." Bellamy says to his men, and they leave the tent.

"Everyone for 100 miles saw this thing come down. What if the grounders get to it first? Bell, we should go now." Octavia says firmly, blocking Bellamy's exit.

"I said we wait until sunrise." Bellamy orders, and he brushes past her.

"Do you know why he's acting so weird?" I ask Octavia, and she shakes her head.

"I don't know why he does half the things he does anymore."

I wait outside Bellamy's tent for him to come out for ages. I haven't seen Clarke all night. Come to think of it, I haven't seen Finn either. The thought bothers me, distracts me.

Finally, I get tired of waiting and burst into the tent. A girl gasps.

"Ever hear of knocking?" She snaps. I don't blame her; she's still barely dressed.

"Bellamy. Where is he?" I ask, looking around the tent. I see another girl under the blankets.

"I don't know, he took off a while ago. Do you mind?" The girl asks.

I leave the tent and look around. "Octavia!" I shout. She doesn't answer. I guess I'm doing this without help.

I grab a knife off a nearby table and head off into the woods, cutting a path to the lake.

As the sun begins to filter through the canopy, I hear someone ahead of me, not bothering to be quiet.

I quickly duck behind a tree, crouching low to the ground as someone cries out, "Bellamy!" It's Octavia.

"What are you doing? Go back to camp. It isn't safe." Bellamy tells her.

"You lied to everyone. You lied to me. You just want whatever's in that pod –" Octavia says angrily.

"Just go home!"

"You always want to play the big brother, huh? Well, guess what? Joke's on me. You're just a selfish dick."

"I did this for you, to protect you. If The Ark finds out we're alive, they'll come down. And when they do I'm dead." Bellamy says.

"What did you do?"

"I shot him. I shot Jaha."

I let out a silent gasp. Jaha's dead? Bellamy murdered him?

"What?" Octavia's exhalation proves she is as shocked as me.

"I found out they were sending you to Earth. I couldn't let you go alone. Someone came to me with a deal do this. Kill him, and they'd get me on the dropship. And I did it." Bellamy says.

Not only did he shoot Jaha, but someone also bribed him to do it.

"You killed the chancellor?" Octavia asks.

"He floated our mother. He locked you up. He deserved it!"

"I didn't ask you to do that."

"You're right. I made the choice. This is on me. Whatever they sent down, I'll take care of it." Bellamy says.

"I didn't ask for any of this." Octavia's voice sounds as if the ground has been yanked from underneath her. She runs back towards me, and I shrink down as she passes me without noticing I'm there.

Bellamy keeps running, and even though I'm sprinting, I can't quite catch up without him noticing.

Finally, he stops running, and I catch sight of the pod, smoke rising from the engine. He opens the hatch, and I step out.

"So what's your plan, huh?" I shout, and he whirls around, his knife raised.

"Bellamy, please don't do this." I say. "You're destroying our chances of survival."

"You followed me." Bellamy says angrily.

"Bellamy, I heard you talking to Octavia. I know you shot the Chancellor. I finally understand why you don't want the Ark down here, but you can't take that radio." I say, and Bellamy looks at me. For a second, I think he'll listen, then he spins around, cuts the wires connecting the radio to the pod, and takes off running.

"Son of a bitch." I swear as I follow him into the woods.

He runs down to the edge of the lake, and I sprint down the hill after him.

"Bellamy, don't do this." I say, and he raises his arm. "Don't!"

The radio arcs through the air into the water, sending up a splash.

"No!" I shout, launching through the air. Bellamy topples backwards as I clamber into the water to retrieve the radio.

Bellamy pulls me backwards as I flounder in the shallow water. My hands scrape against the rocks as I kick out. I connect with something and Bellamy grunts. I get to my feet and splash towards the radio. I reach down for it when a pair of arms lifts me off my feet. Bellamy drags me back as I kick and scream. My feet hit the shore and I punch him across the face. He slams me down but I refuse to cry out.

Suddenly, his knife is at my throat, and my fear is leaping up in my chest.

"Go on, do it. You've already murdered someone once, why not do it again?" I spit. He looks down at me and the furious look in his eyes changes.

He drags me to my feet and over to a tree.

"I'm sorry, Ari, but I can't let you warn Clarke, not until I can get far enough away." He says, pinning my hands together, over my head. I struggle against him but he wraps a rope around my wrists, tying me to the tree. It's so tight I can feel the circulation ceasing.

"Bellamy, don't do this. Don't. You'll regret it." I say. "Bellamy, don't leave me here, don't."

He begins walking away and I play my last card. "I trusted you! I trusted you, you bastard! Even when no one else would, I helped you!"

He pauses in his stride but doesn't look back. Then he keeps walking. I refuse to scream for help as he disappears into the woods.

Almost two or three hours later, I hear movement. I don't say a word, afraid it's Grounders, but then Finn emerges.

"Hey! Hey!" I shout, the pain in my wrists renewed. "Finn!"

He turns and looks around.

"Clarke, I found her!" He shouts, running over to me, his knife drawn. He saws on the rope for a few seconds and Clarke appears.

My legs threaten to cramp as I stand up, rubbing my wrists. An unfamiliar girl follows, then Bellamy. My fists clench when I see him, and he tenses.

"Ari, Ari, don't!" Clarke says as I stare daggers at him. Others begin follow, four or five people from camp.

"He tied me to a tree and left me." I say viciously.

"We have bigger problems." Clarke says. "The Ark is going to kill 300 people to conserve oxygen. Today."

I look at the girl. "Are you from the Ark?" I ask.

"Raven. I was an engineer."

"Ari." I say, and her eyes widen.

"Abby sent me down here." She says. "She said you and Clarke were practically sisters."

"We're trying to find the radio." Clarke says, and I plunge into the water.

"I know where it is. I've been staring at the spot he threw it for the last three hours." I say bitterly with a glance at Bellamy, who's sitting on the shore.

"He didn't kill the Chancellor." Raven tells me. "Jaha's still alive."

I brush off the information like a fly and reach down into the water, pulling out the radio.

"Can you fix it?" Clarke asks Raven as I bring it to her. She looks at it skeptically.

"Maybe. But it'll take half a day just to dry out the components to see what's broken."

"Like I said, it's too late." Bellamy says.

"Do you have any idea what you did? Do you even care?" Clarke says.

"You asked me to help. I helped." Bellamy retorts.

"300 people are going to die today because of you." Clarke spits.

"Hold up. We don't have to talk to The Ark. We just have to let them know we're down here, right?" Raven asks.

"Yeah, but how do we do that with no radio?" Finn asks her, and Raven smiles.

"Flares." She says.

"Sorry, what?" I ask.

"We build flares out of materials from the pod and your dropship. We light them up and boom, the Ark sees them and knows we're alive." Raven explains.

"How you propose we do that?" Clarke asks.

"I'm the youngest engineer ever. I'll get the job done."

We start to work. I'm set to removing the rockets in one piece, something Raven keeps reminding me is very important.

We work until dark getting everything back to camp. Everyone gathers around as Raven lights the rockets.

They flare purple and red and people ooo and ahh at them as they shoot into the clear night sky, blasting off into the atmosphere.

"You think they can see it from up there?" Bellamy asks me, and I stiffen.

"I hope so."

"Look, I'm sorry. I made a mistake. I should never have left you –"

"You did make a mistake." I say. "And I know the only reason you're apologizing to me is so you can lessen your own guilt over possibly killing 300 people. But I trusted you and you betrayed that trust. I thought we were becoming friends and I was wrong. 'I'm sorry' isn't going to cut it, Bellamy."

I move closer to Clarke, who looks at me, then Bellamy.

"Ari, I'm sorry." She says.

"Don't be."

"Can you wish on this kind of shooting star?" Clarke asks me, looking up at the purple fireworks.

"I don't know, Clarke." I say. "What would you wish for?"

Clarke doesn't answer, but she looks over at Finn, his arm around Raven.

"Clarke, what's going on between you and Finn?" I ask.

Clarke looks at me and shakes her head. "It's over now, alright? Raven's back and he loves her."

"Do you love him?" I ask, and she shakes her head again.

"I honestly don't know."

I wrap an arm around her shoulders and squeeze her tightly, and she smiles, putting her arm around me.


End file.
